


Stripped of Destiny

by KingHorseHead



Category: RWBY
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-09-01 05:55:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,935
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8611354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingHorseHead/pseuds/KingHorseHead
Summary: For all of Pyrrha Nikos' life, she knew that she would have to give herself to the greater good, but someone else has taken her place. Beacon has fallen. What was once Professor Ozpin's tower is now home to a frozen solid Dragon, and the grave of a dear friend. With the fall of beacon, Pyrrha must help Ruby Rose in her journey to alert the other Kingdoms and schools of the truth of Beacon, but can she do so without a clear conscience?





	

Two figures stumbled out of the broken building behind them. The once great Tower of Beacon was now in shambles, broken and battered by a great beast prowling the sky and a woman who could control one of the very elements of life.  
The first of the two, his breathing heavy underneath the white plated armor, bent to his knees as soon as the chance was available. His yellow hair drooped just over his eyes, his head hanging low as he regained his breath. This was the descendant of a long line of warriors, Jaune Arc. The will for battle had been lost in his family after a few generations, but he intended to change that. Though he could just barely see the other from behind his hair, he stressed to stand back up and look to her.  
The second, only a hair shorter, seemed completely fine on the run out. They were ordered by their headmaster to leave, and so they did. She was not going to allow Jaune to remain behind, even if she could easily outrun him. She was the star student and athelete Pyrrha Nikos, an exchange student from one of the other schools in one of the other kingdomes.  
"Okay, I think I have Glynda's number." From his pocket he produced his Scroll, a communications device given to each of the students of Beacon Academy. A lone index finger tapped at the buttons as they presented themselves, trying to find the number he so desperately needed.  
A deep rumbling shook the earth, but Jaune refused to acknowledge it. Pyrrha instead turned around to look back at the tower.  
"Pyrrha?" The little beeps of the Scroll had stopped for only a moment, Jaune taking a second to speak to his friend and teammate. "What was all of that?"  
She couldn't find an answer, not one that would be easy to explain in such a time of danger. She looked away, afraid of lying to him or denying him the truth. "I..."  
Before she could continue, the earth shook once more. The violent tremors were becoming more and more frequent as time edged ever forward. Both looked at the tower, just in time to see a ball of fire rise from the base and shoot to the top, where the headmaster's office was located at.  
Both looked on in horror. They knew who that firery red ball was. But it shouldn't have been. Ozpin should have been able to take her town in a fight, even with the full magical power of legend. He was the one who had introduced Pyrrha to the prospect of that power of the first place. he of all people should have known how to control and stop it.  
"But... Ozpin..." Jaune could swallow the truth, but he refused to give hope that Ozpin was somehow still down there. He took a step forward, but an arm reached out fo stop him.  
Pyrrha shook her head, holding back tears while she stared Jaune in the eyes. "There's no time," She looked away once more, her features hardening before the looked back at the boy. "Go! Get to Vale, and call for help." Even though she did not lead the team that both she and Jaune were on, she was taking initiative here in order to stop the chaos.  
He took a breath, his feet carrying him back. "Huh? What are you going to do?"  
She had no words for him. Her face turned to the tower where the Dragon seemed to have rested, as well as where Ozpin's assailant was.  
"No. No, Pyrrha, you can't. You saw how powerful she is," He stepped in front of her as quickly as his feet would carry him. "Pyrrha, I don't let you do-" He had been suddenly silenced by the woman before him taking his face and crashing it against her own.  
For a moment, he needed to process everything that was happening. She had just kissed him, stopping him in his tracks. She was stopping him from keeping her from going. However much he wanted to resist, however he tried thinking to get her out of this situation, he melded into the kiss, his hands slowly lowering and finding their place on her hips. She moved in closer, but only for a fleeting moment. His hands disappeared from her body, but she could still feel him against her. The moment the two parted, her own lips parted to speak, but Jaune had beaten her to the punch.  
"I'm sorry."  
It was a technique that he had learned from his friend Lie Ren. He had given Pyrrha a small push with his hands on her hips, then another against her breastplate, using his aura to help push her further away. On his right arm was now her shield, his left hand holding her rifle.  
She gasped in surprise, her feet skidding across the stone that made up the pathway they stood on. She wasn't aware that he knew how to use his Aura at all, much like that. She had been pushed back several feet, enough to make her need to crouch down to keep from falling over before she stopped. By the time she did, however, Jaune was already racing away from her, headed towards one of the jet-propelled lockers that all of the students had access to.  
"Wait! Stop, stop!" Pyrrha protested all she could from where she stood, but she knew she could not get to him in time. "Jaune, please, don't do this!" Tears began to fall from her eyes, but it did not stop him from his new objective.  
Jaune rushed to tap the buttons on the interface of the buttons, eyeballing a trajectory to the top of the tower before slamming on a button and shutting himself inside the metal box. In only seconds, the rocket powered up again, shooting into the air for the top of the tower.  
Pyrrha stood helpless on the ground. She could use her ability of magnetic polarity control to stop Jaune and possibly even direct him to the ships, but she would end up injuring him or worse if she did. His body, some way or another, would shatter if the locker was taken control of by her power.  
Oh how cruel fate was to those who thought they knew the future.  
It was not the first time that Jaune had ridden in one of the lockers, but it was the first time that he had actually placed himself in one on purpose.  
He didn't want to leave Pyrrha down there, but he also didn't want her spending her life against an opponent that was more powerful than even Ozpin.  
Pyrrha could only watch as the locket flew into the air. Her heart ached and sank to the bottom of her feet, her mind filling with thoughts of all the horrible things that woman might do to Jaune. She needed to call someone. She needed to check in with someone and tell them that Jaune needed help right now.  
She couldn't keep her hands steady. She was so shaken and stirred that she had a hard time just unlocking her Scroll to make a phone call. Her Semblence of Polaity wasn't working, her mind far too clouded to worry about Aura or her own protection.  
Finally, she had hit just the right places, and waited eagerly for the call to be picked up. It was only a few seconds in real time, but it was several lifetimes for Pyrrha. It went on forever. The dialing tone droned on and on.  
Finally, the call was picked up.  
"Where are you?" Was the first thing that Pyrrha heard from the one and only Ice Queen of Beacon, Weiss Schnee.  
She was harmed at her very core. It took all of the strength that Pyrrha had to keep going on, to tell them Weiss what was going on and what needed to be done. She was in no condition to do anything, and if Pyrrha would have found a way to get to the top of the tower with Jaune, it would have resulted in both of their deaths if she was like this up there.  
"Weiss!" She pleaded the girl's name. "Please, you have to stop him!" She was already on the verge of tears, but she couldn't stop now.  
"What-" Weiss was interruped by Pyrrha. She could feel the distress in Pyrrha's voice through the Scroll, and it was alarming. Pyrrha was never like this, ever.  
"Jaune!" Her voice raised again. She forgot that Weiss wasn't in her mind and didn't know what had happened. "He... He's going after that woman, at the top of the tower! He doesn't stand a chance against her!" Weiss didn't know what Pyrrha knew. Weiss could understand that Jaune was a bad fighter, but she didn't know what this woman was fully capable of, and neither did Pyrrha.  
"Pyrrha, what are you talking about?" Weiss still wasn't completely in on the situation. Pyrrha had forgotten that Weiss was not in her head, and therefore could not understand everything that She had seen in the past few days. There are much more at play than what anyone was aware of. "Where are you?"  
Even though Weiss was keeping her calm, Pyrrha was loosing her cool. She shouted into the Scroll  
"Pyrrha? What are you talking about?" It was obvious that something bad happened with Jaune, and her raising her voice and turning it into a screaming match wasn't going to help make things better. "Where are you?"  
"Don't worry about me!" She couldn't help herself to do anything other than scream at Weiss from her Scroll. Jaune may have had weaponry now, her weaponry, but he would have no idea how to use it effectively. "Please..." Her words became strained, her hand gripping her Scroll as tight as it could. "You have to save Jaune."  
Weiss' reply was much faster this time. Ruby, Weiss' teammate and team leader seemed to have been saying something, but nothing that was loud enough for Pyrrha to hear. "We will. Are you okay?"  
Was she okay? Did Pyrrha not just tell her that her own wellbeing was not to be questioned right now? Pyrrha was a world-renowned scholar and huntress hopeful. She won every match she participated in, for better or for worse.  
Jaune was not like her.  
Jaune had entered Beacon Academy with falsified transcripts and weapons that belonged to his ancestors. Even if Pyrrha's spear doubled as a rifle, Jaune only had a sword and shield. It was simple, almost barbaric, but so absolutely him. Howevever, he did not have his own sword and shield. He was fighting with weapons that were unlike his own, against a woman who could easily down him, no matter how hard he would try to fight.  
His mission was suicide.  
In a fit of rage, Pyrrha screamed and threw her Scroll. Only now her semblance of Polarity worked, hurling the phone even faster than her arm threw it. It hit a nearby wall and shattered into pieces.  
She fell to her knees. She had failed the one person that she vowed to protect. The only one who had seen her for absolutely her, and knew nothing of her reputation when they first met. He whom she had unlocked their aura for, who she helped train to become a better warrior than he ever could have been on his own.  
The tears fell freely from her eyes. Pyrrha sobbed and cried a loud as she could. She had failed.  
"Please..."


End file.
